Mehbooba’s gamble: Price of political absence – Times of India

Politics often reminds of games played in school, like plucking the petals of a flower: “they love me, they love me not”. The metaphor might be subtle, but it’s surprisingly effective and haunting considering what’s to come for PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.
PDP suffered its worst defeat in J&K’s long-awaited assembly elections, securing just three seats. A stunning tailspin from 16 in 2002, 21 in 2008, and 28 in 2014.“We will play the role of a constructive opposition. The issues of the people do not end with an election,” she said, conceding defeat and bidding her supporters to not lose heart.
Mehbooba never envisioned herself as a politician. The eldest of four children born to former Union home minister and two-time J&K CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, she cherished the idea of a quieter life. But by the 1990s, she found herself stepping into politics at the behest of her father. She became the reluctant representative of the family name, a role she never truly sought but one she would soon come to embody.
Her journey from the periphery to the heart of Kashmiri politics was shaped by conviction. Recently, that same conviction caused her to step back. She would not, she declared, contest any assembly elections until J&K’s statehood — lost with the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 — was restored. She stood resolute, unmoved by her party’s appeals.
Instead, she chose to pass the mantle to the next generation, nominating her daughter Iltija Mufti to contest Srigufwara-Bijbehara in Anantnag. This southern Kashmir seat is more than a political prize. It is the Mufti family’s ancestral home. It was here, in 1967, that her father first tasted victory as a Congress candidate. It was here, in 1996, that Mehbooba herself won her first election.
It was Iltija’s turn to continue a political legacy deeply rooted in the very soil of Bijbehara, her father Javid Iqbal Shah’s homeland as well. Iltija lost.
The political game demands presence — out there in the middle. Mehbooba’s decision not to run hurt PDP, according to political analysts.
Mehbooba has navigated crises and controversies, always with an eye on the future. Yet the pull of politics has a way of altering even the best-laid plans. In 2016, after her father’s death, she became the first woman to hold the position of CM in J&K, forming a coalition govt with BJP. But the fragile coalition fractured in 2018.
After Article 370 was abrogated, she was detained under Public Safety Act for over a year. Upon her release, she remained resolute in her demand for the restoration of J&K’s statehood. “The Centre should learn from the verdict and refrain from interfering in the govt’s affairs,” she said, while congratulating NC-Congress alliance on its victory.